


Ficlet Challenge: Day 4 - Storm

by a1_kitkat



Series: February-Ficlet-Challenge-2021 [4]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Childhood Trauma, Established Relationship, February Ficlet Challenge, M/M, Not Beta Read, Older Man/Younger Man, Rain, Tenderness, Thunderstorms, love and affection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:35:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29212020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a1_kitkat/pseuds/a1_kitkat
Summary: Alex never used to be scared of thunderstorms until an old memory resurfaces.
Relationships: Alex Manes/Jim Valenti
Series: February-Ficlet-Challenge-2021 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137701
Comments: 7
Kudos: 7
Collections: February Ficlet Challenge 2021: Apocalypse No





	Ficlet Challenge: Day 4 - Storm

The grey clouds lingered in the sky all day, the teasing threat of rain hanging over their heads but not enough to send them indoors. The couple was just happy for the very limited time they had together, in the private isolation of the old hunting cabin.

Alex watched the sky, waiting for the tiniest hint of the first raindrop that eluded them until long after the sun had set.

If Jim sensed Alex’s unease, he didn’t voice it but once they were settled on the couch in front of the fire, he could feel the tension in the younger man’s body. Before the first boom of thunder, he’d already wrapped his arms around him; when the cabin became alight with outside lightening, Alex just burrowed further into his embrace while Jim kissed his forehead.

“Maybe we should go to bed, before it gets worse?” Jim suggested.

It was only a few steps from the main building to the external bedroom but once the rain began to fall there was a chance they’d get completely soaked on the short walk. Alex nodded in agreement and climbed to his feet, moved to the window and tried to gauge how far away the impending storm was.

Jim put the fire out and made sure the kitchen windows were closed before joining Alex by the door.

“I mean, we could just stay in here if you’d prefer?” He said.

“No, let’s just go to bed… We’re getting too old for sleeping on the floor anyway…” Alex replied.

A sudden crack of thunder caused the lights to flicker so Jim turned them off, opened the door and they hurried across the grass to the detached bedroom. Jim shoved the door open and both slipped inside.

He immediately moved through the dark room and lit the small fireplace. He sank back onto the foot of the bed and Alex dropped down beside him. By the glow of the fire, Jim could see Alex’s discomfort had heightened by the change of location. He reached for his hand.

“It might pass right over us,” Jim said.

“I doubt it,” Alex whispered.

“You wanna talk about it? You never used to hate the rain…”

“You want the cliff notes version?”

“I want you to say whatever you’re comfortable sharing with me. You wanna talk, I’ll listen. If you’d rather we sit in silence, we can do that too.”

Alex nodded in agreement then kicked off his shoes. His socks both had holes in them, needed to buy more but never thinking of it when he was on leave. He stared at his toe, sticking out the top and sighed.

Jim was watching the fire, not Alex, so he was taken completely unaware as the younger man shifted. Alex turned, threw his leg over Jim and straddled his thighs as he wrapped his arms around his neck and kissed him deeply.

“Whoa, Alex, slow down,” he said. “If you don’t wanna talk we don’t have to.”

Alex dropped his head onto Jim’s shoulder and closed his eyes. Jim wrapped his arms around Alex’s waist and held him close, tightly, comfortingly.

“It’s okay, I’ve got you,” Jim assured him as another loud boom of thunder sounded, much closer this time.

“This is crazy,” Alex murmured. “I’m a grown man; I’m not afraid of the rain.”

Jim softly stroked his fingers up and down the small of his back as Alex continued to nuzzle into him.

“Even if you were, it’s okay,” Jim said. “You’re not invincible and with everything you’ve been through… with your dad and enlisting and…”

Alex leaned back just enough to look into Jim’s eyes.

“The last thing I wanna talk about right now is my father,” he said. “Even if…” Alex sighed. “You’re right, I didn’t used to hate the rain or at least I forgot that I did. You’re probably one of the only people outside of my brothers who know what he used to do to me. How hard he fought to ‘beat the gay’ out of me but he used a lot more psychological torture on us when we were kids. One night, there was a storm and I got scared… really scared… and my dad said the best way to overcome my fear was to face it. So, he took me outside and tied me to a tree, by the ankle so I could still move around and stuff… Then he left me there.”

Jim knew he should be surprised by this but the lengths Jesse Manes went through to turn his children into hard soldiers seemed to have no ending.

“About ten minutes later… although it felt like an hour to me… Greg came out and untied me then we ran to the tool shed and hid there all night. It was dark and cold and we huddled together, thinking that at any minute our dad was gonna come in and kick the crap out of us.”

“Did he?” Jim asked, his thumb still tracing Alex’s lower back.

“No,” Alex averted his eyes and slowly climbed off Jim. He moved closer to the fire. “We stayed outside all night, long after the storm had passed. Came in the next morning and he didn’t say a word. I think he forgot that he’d done it. For years after, I sheltered in that shed as a safe place away from him but  _ I  _ forgot what had led me out there in the first place… Until this one night when a real bad storm knocked the generator out and we were just stuck, in the dark, listening to the thunder and it reminded me of that night, of that fear I felt, wondering if at any moment he was going to come for me, for us…”

Jim got to his feet and carefully approached him but Alex immediately sought his embrace. He’d never told anyone that story before, wasn’t even sure if his brother still remembered that night but Greg probably hadn’t been as terrified as Alex had.

Jim could feel Alex’s entire body trembling as he held him close, arms wrapped so tightly around him.

Outside, the rain began to fall. It was harsh, loud, almost aggressive as it fell upon the roof and the windows. Jim pressed kisses to Alex’s forehead, feeling his erratic heartbeat against his chest.

Each boom of thunder or bright spark of lightning made Alex clutch to Jim even tighter. He tried to whisper reassuring words to him but in the end, Jim simply led Alex to the bed and they both climbed under the covers. He pulled Alex’s body close, wrapped his arms around him, his own body practically cocooning him underneath the blankets.

In the corner, the warm fire continued to flicker while the loud, angry, storm raged outside. 

But  _ inside _ , Alex felt safe and protected in Jim’s arms.

Long after the storm passed, Jim continued to hold Alex in his embrace where they exchanged soft, tender, kisses while whispering words of love to each other.

*

The following morning, Alex stood on the porch with a blanket around his shoulders, staring at the sodden ground. The calm, quiet serene after the passing storm.

When Jim joined him, handed him a cup of coffee, he nodded at the lingering clouds in the distance.

“Weather says there’s gonna be another storm tonight,” Jim said. “You wanna pack it in and head home?”

Alex shook his head, reached for Jim’s hand.

“No; I can take it… With you by my side, I can weather any storm,” he replied.

“Yeah,” Jim leaned forward and kissed him. “We both can.”


End file.
